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2007: Nathan Jones 2008: Brad Green 2009: Aaron Davey 2010: James Frawley 2011: Jack Trengove 2012: Nathan Jones 2013: Nathan Jones 2014: Nathan Jones 2015: Jack Viney 2016: Max Gawn 2017: Clayton Oliver 2018: Clayton Oliver 2019: Max Gawn 2020: Christian Petracca 2021: Clayton Oliver 2022: Clayton Oliver Congratulations to Clayton Oliver on winning the 2022 Demonland Player of the Year Award. Clarry joins Nathan Jones as a 4 time recipient of this illustrious award.

Best mates with Tracc and Clarry and hopefully it was just lingering effects of injury that affected his game. An in form Salem is one of our weapons.

Not a thread about tyres. Lots of doom and gloom on here but personally I think our season was far from a waste or a disgrace. Backing up from a flag to win 10 on the trott at the front end (when people were hoping we'd be drunk on bathwater) and then to finish 2nd is a very decent result. Clarry winning gongs for fun, and the AA side littered with Dees. VFL side as dominant as any that I can recall. If we had had a season like the doggies or tigers I would be carrying on like alot of the hand wringers on here. Flags don't grow on trees and you don't get a armchair ride to a dynasty just beacuse youn win one- some fair weather supporters need to realise this and get behind the boys for next year.

I don't think losing 2 home finals to interstate teams can be spun as a good year. More like a great opportunity lost.

One bad year and everyone piles on Salem. Yeh he had a bad year, but not a horrible one. If we trade him now we don't get what he is worth. Which is an AA calibre HBF. Watch him bounce back next yr!!

the notion of trading salem is absurd we struggle to have players hit tagets by foot and he's one of few who is capable of doing so

Have just got back from a social event where I got talking to a very well known footy journalist. He didn’t give much away, other than Jackson is gone, providing Freo can find two first rounders. He believes Grundy will be at Melbourne next year, for a first round pick and a significant amount of his wage picked up by the Pies - said that Goody really rates Grundy and we’ll have the best ruck combination for the next 4-5 years. He also said that they’ll work to get Kozzy signed up as a priority, but there’s no truth in the rumours that he wants to go to an SA club: he has no allegiance in SA - probably the only place he would move to would be country WA, if they had a team! Apparently v happy with the set up at Melbourne, so should be reasonably straightforward. He thought that the main reasons for the Dees falling short this year were injuries and perhaps the mental fatigue of trying to win a B2B. On a more general note, he thought that this years trade period will be epic, with lots of names being thrown up for movement. Nothing earth-shattering in what he said, but just thought I’d share it with my fellow Dees!

Banged! Banged banged banged up.!

We don’t trade Salem. We get him right over Summer. Michael Hibberd is done at the elite level, so Salem is not on the table Put a good Key Forward in this team and we would still be alive next Friday night

I think you're about to be left disappointed.

I believe the club is very interested in Sam Sturt of Fremantle. He has been watched live in the WAFL by the club twice in recent weeks. I'm still none the wiser on the actual situation with Jacko but believe Sturt would form part of any deal.

Since our ejection on Friday night I've been reflecting on our season and where it might have gone wrong. Or in particular, why this year never quite felt right. All teams have question marks on whether they have what it takes to get to the top. Supporters and the media focus largely on whether the playing group is talented enough, whether the coaching/gameplan can succeed and whether the off field administration is enabling success. These are no doubt important. For us though, none of these 3 elements have changed materially from last year. We know the team is good enough, we know the coaching group was good enough (notwithstanding tactics need to change) and we are stable off field. What has changed and I think why I felt 'uncomfortable' with a lot of the seasons successes - is the culture. This is what stitched it all together last year and in this sport in particular, with the largest ground and freeform positioning, is a crucial element to executing a defensive-minded gameplan. Bit by bit, week by week, I think our leaders (players and coaches) have let it slip, with a trail of markers going back to the end of last year: - Gawn declaring at our premiership celebration that we'd salute in 2022 - I'm sure this was designed to be bold, but it imbued from the start a disrespect to our opposition and to some degree, embedded some underlying complacency - the Carlton pre season game, conceding 8 50m penalties and clearly lacking some discipline and respect for our opponents and the umpires - consistent selection of players who were underdone, out of form or blatantly injured, reducing accountability, reducing trust in the FD to be impartial, and denying our youth and second stringers of chances to grow. Not very selfless or trusting from our FD decision makers. - May/Melksham incident, notable not for it's drunkenness or timing but for what was said by May to Melksham, implying a clique of 'premiership heroes' to the exclusion of all others, and again a sense of entitlement stemming from achieving success last year - coaching refusal to change structure or gameplan in the face of pretty compelling evidence that it was being dismantled - clear on field selfishness in front of goals - Fritsch the poster boy but it arguably most damaging from players like Trac who repeatedly attempts to kick goals with 3 oppo players on top of him rather than using his gifts to release someone to space as he did more often last year - clear drop off in accountability to team defense standards in guarding space appropriately or sitting at the defensive side of a contest. The selflessness that was such a hallmark is now difficult to see in this regard. - clear drop off in willingness to work hard at the little things off the ball - they spoke about being the best teammates they could be last year. Being 3rd last in pressure implies they weren't very good teammates to each other this year at all. - Continued poor discipline in both our finals, conceding 50m penalties to Sydney at crucial times and again against Brisbane, with the leadership group repeatedly at fault and a litany of downfield free kicks as we repeatedly dumped players after kicking -players openly arguing, pointing and expressing frustration with each other on field, including the leaders -Langdons poorly worded 'duck dinner' comment - I'm sure not wholly intended to be disrespectful but again a marker of an underlying arrogance in the teams evaluation of its opponents -Consistently going ahead early in all our losses - indicating again our pure footy ability was clearly good enough - only to be overrun. I think fitness wasn't the issue. I think it was the teams mindset to run for each other, trust their teammate to win a contest and a collective belief in the system and team defense. -Gawn spoke about last year how their cultural change started with the removal of the 'little quips' around the club - not bringing each other down for fun. I'm sure I'm not alone in noticing that from about a 1/3 of the way through the year, the Gus and Gawny episodes took a bit of a turn...the quips of teammates returned in subtle doses in exchange for a laugh. By the last few episodes of the year I no longer enjoyed the show - arrogant, backslapping banter often at the expense of their guest or the team's lesser lights. - Gawn has a guest spot on Nova's breakfast show once a week. The hosts questioned Max a number of times about our form during the 2nd half of the year. It's a breakfast show and I don't expect it to be serious, but near the end of the year Max kept referring to our ladder position as his defense. "Well, we're still second so we must be doing something right". There was a clear denial of the trends within our game (at least to the extent he would admit it externally), again implying a level of disrespect for the opposition. Jonathan Brown more than once accused Max of living in the past. Brown is hardly a beacon of morality or good judgement, but I think he was on the mark. I'll stop here to avoid making this any longer - I'm sure others can add their own observations to this list. I've no doubt some of you will say I'm being pedantic, particularly on the final two points on how Gawn has presented in the media - but I just can't shake the sense that the selflessness, humility, and team unity that we had in 2021 has been pretty significantly eroded. I think this is encapsulated by our two finals games. We were deers in headlights when both Sydney and Brisbane cranked up the pressure. We clearly weren't running for each other. Uninspired and selfish can look a lot like being gassed. It was pretty alarming to see this team, our amazing, contested, tough, 'built for finals' team start playing hot potato and putting teammates under pressure with errant or 30cm hospital handballs. I think this reflected that the playing group to some degree lost the trust & faith they once had in one another. If I am unfortunately right, it won't be an easy fix from here. Culture is the hardest and last thing to get right, and it's the easiest and first thing you get wrong. Looking forward to the offseason moves and all of that - but my eye will be watching for the return of some of the cultural markers we had in 2021. Or at least, the non recurrence of the markers of 2022.

I reckon this an excellent, and perhaps over looked point. I don't think it is fair to put our fitness issues at Griffith's feet, as there are just so many variables that must come into play into terms of things that disrupt a physical training program. Last year we had a dream run. this year we didn't, so its bit unfair on him to compare his results with that of Burgess - who by the by was our fitness guy in 2020 when we failed to make the finals. Be that as it may it was evident that, for whatever reason, we were not as fit as we were last year come finals, But the pies and swans fitness teams, and it would appear also the cats, have done a brilliant job preparing their teams - and we lost our comparative advantage in terms of fitness. I had fully expected the Swans and pies to come off the boil a bit, but both remain incredibly fit. At least one of them have two games to play, so their fitness may still drop off but hats off to both teams. In my opinion, the two biggest determinants of success in footy are (in order) injuries and fitness. We struggled on both fronts this year.

Ben brown banged up cant run Gawn banged up cant run Viney banged up cant run Trac banged up cant run Clarry banged up cause carring others Jacko banged up cant run Kossie banged up cant run Melk old cant run Lingers banged up cant run Spargo banged up cant run

Funny people mentioning Spargo and Salem - the two best field kickers in our team - as being underwhelming or trade bait. Like we are packed with dead eye kicks... I agree with the comments - Salem clearly was either injured or just out of form and yet we kept picking him. Kinda like Jacko.

Not a question, but I want to acknowledge the huge amount of work that Andy, George and Bin have put into running the pod each week over the season. Whether or not I agree with the points of view, I value the different perspectives, and love the ‘Demon banter’ that goes with them. Thanks from me guys, and I expect I also speak for the vast majority of Demonlanders!

Clarry gets illegally held at every stoppage but only a couple of frees are awarded. Absolute scam.

That is so so pathetic! Where was this angst last week when Dangerfield whinged to his bench then to Robbo that Ginnivan had laid a chicken wing tackle on him. Dangerfield who is president of the AFLPA. Did he not break the player's code? Robbo carried the story for him to the point the AFL investigated after the MRO findings were published and found Jack had no case to answer. jack-ginnivan-chicken-wing-tackle-on-patrick-dangerfield Oliver was appealing for a free in game. Dangerfield carried on through the media days after the game Which of the two, would other player's think broke the 'player code'? Players would be laughing at Cornes for that comment.

Kane Cornes is the Andrew Bolt of football. Making a career of being a contrarian but at the end of the day is inconsequential.

Full Demonland Player of the Year Honour Board 2001 - 2022 2001: Adem Yze 2002: Adem Yze 2003: Clint Bizzell 2004: Jeff White 2005: Travis Johnstone 2006: Cameron Bruce 2007: Nathan Jones 2008: Brad Green 2009: Aaron Davey 2010: James Frawley 2011: Jack Trengove 2012: Nathan Jones 2013: Nathan Jones 2014: Nathan Jones 2015: Jack Viney 2016: Max Gawn 2017: Clayton Oliver 2018: Clayton Oliver 2019: Max Gawn 2020: Christian Petracca 2021: Clayton Oliver 2022: Clayton Oliver

Good year? Some people live in cloud cuckoo land. We lost 7 of our 8 losses after leading by 24+ points. There is something seriously wrong with our method that has been identified early on and failed to be rectified. Even in our 10 early wins our form was ordinary. The coaching staff wear this one. You don't get many gilt edged opportunities to make GFs and we bottled it losing 2 games on our home deck and defeated in the same circumstances with virtually a full list. Garbage about the draw and players banged up is just embarrassing.

Just waiting for all the past winners to RSVP.

Salem has neither the pace of a Langdon, nor the gut running of a Gus. His weapon is his kicking, so half back is his natural position.

"Carlton is not seeking to offload Zac Williams, despite a report on Monday suggesting he was “gettable”. An RSN report said Carlton was “subtly shopping him (Williams) around”, despite the 27-year-old being just two years into a lucrative six-year deal. That report has been categorically denied to foxfooty.com.au." The skeptical me thinks they hadn't yet told Williams/his Manger he was being "subtly" shopped around!

What a player he's been, outstanding.

The single biggest mistake imo was not introducing some new players to the team. Especially after a premiership, you need to inject some hunger. People need to fear their spot in the team. You only need to be 5% down in intensity and you get beaten by a team like Sydney, Collingwood, etc. who play like maniacs. We were like maniacs last year. So, so hard to keep that up forever. We will be back.

It is something to definitely hold onto so as much as we all throw the baby out, there is not anything to suggest that a few adjustments to game plan won’t alter. I think our fade outs were due to overall fitness and game plan. It was evident even in the first half of the year with all the ‘2nd gear nonsense’ - turns out the tranny was stuck and we couldn’t even shift out of 2nd. Now those that know my posts - I’m not overly optimistic - but in the wash up of this year I do have a lot to look forward to in 2023. A failed finals series will be a massive reality check for most in the team that probably became complacent mid year after going 10 zip. In hindsight, the May incident was a huge snapshot into the culture at the time. Those thinking it was isolated to one person can keep living under a rock. But it clearly marked the start of our downfall. Some time off to heal physically and mentally will do everyone some good. I genuinely hope that the FD come back with some fresh ideas in how to negate the top 4-6 teams that have an overly aggressive and attacking game style. We are no longer the fittest, fastest and smartest team in it and I hope that fact alone burns in the guts of the whole club over the next 2.5 months.

Sturt’s got talent but he’s had a heap of injuries and clearly can’t pressure well enough to get games ahead of Freo’s 4 smalls or Bailey Banfield. Poor man’s Fritsch. His 1 year deal tells me the Dees did the due diligence and weren’t prepared to offer 2 years. If we wanted him we’d have offered 2 years and had him as the steak knives to Jacko. Now…Liam Henry on the outer. That has me interested

I agree, a KPF drafted now is not going going to help us next year. We already have JVR in the hopper for next year and we're not going in with him and a draftee as our KPFs. There's every reason to believe that we'll get at least a season combined out of B.Brown and TMac each year for the next two years that they are contracted. Together with JVR and two ruckmen that's a full complement of tall forwards. Three years is when we will need a KPF replacement, but maybe this year isn't the right year to be reaching for one at the pointy end of the draft, it's risky with Cadman and Jefferson the only ones rated by Cal Twomey as first round prospects: https://www.afl.com.au/news/832462/cal-twomey-s-phantom-form-guide-top-draft-prospects-august-ranking Maybe someone like Isaac Keeler rated at #29 represents better value and should be available at a pick we receive in the Jackson trade. Additionally we can look to clear cap space and chase a ready-made KPF in the trade and FA market over the next two years. As I posted earlier, we have 11 expendable players coming out of contract over the next 3 years, there's probably $3M or $4M of cap space there: 2022: Hibberd, Melksham, Hunt 2023: Dunstan, ANB, Weideman, Tomlinson 2024: B.Brown, Harmes, McDonald, J.Smith

He wants to stay at Collingwood, so I doubt he will be requesting a trade. Having said that, if Pies need to dump him, then I don’t see why we should be giving up a first rounder

It will always feel like an opportunity lost, but looking back through history, there are many far worse premiership defenses than what we put up. Lots of teams who have won one then missed the 8 entirely. And for a team with a 5 decade history of flakiness and failure, finishing 2nd really did buck the tend. What's impotaant now though is how the club responds. The competetion has risen to our threat of a dynasty and has made it clear we will have to earn it. It is now up to the brains trust within the club to interpret the mountain of information and data that none of us are privvy to, to find out what went wrong and to begin to address the areas we need to improve in to take what is still on offer; a period of on-field success than many of us perhaps gave up dreaming about.

Yes. Interestingly Gary Lyon on SEN this morning said he had thought long and hard about what happened to Melbourne in the second half games after round 10 and he could only come up with the theory that players dropped their intensity, the hunger wasn’t there as it was in 2021. He is probably correct but my immediate thought was you counter that by dropping players who you identify might be not going hard enough to put pressure on the others. After setting ourselves up at 10-0 we had the luxury to reward the better players at Casey to set the required standard even if it cost us a few games and as it turned out we lost games anyway. I still think the defensive, predictable game plan set us up for failure as well.

https://www.afl.com.au/video/841926/did-oliver-break-players-code-in-berry-incident-?videoId=841926&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1662959100001 Even if you accept this twaddle, how was Oliver meant to know it wasn't intentional?

just like howe was promised to be a forward at the filth?

Not a good year. The race to the flag was wide open; no dynasty team standing in our way and we squandered the opportunity.

Andy, George and Binman, commiserations on our finals results, I would normally say unreservedly I am looking forward to the podcast however if others feel like I do I wonder what you are in for by way of contributions and questions. I am sure your reasoned and balanced views will prevail again. I have refrained from knee jerk reaction and some 60 hours after the result have tempered my thoughts or tried to. However my disappointment and anger does not want subside no matter how I try to rationalise this semi final result. Football is an important fabric of this city, it has grown from tribal/municipal roots into a national game. Trust is a key component in relationships, right down to the seemingly benign football club football member/supporter relationship. We would all like to barrack for, support or belong to(be a member of) a team we trust to consistently put in good effort week on week. It took a long time to begin to trust my team and club again after the Barassi exit and the Smith sacking but gradually that trust retuned in the Northey years, waned again in the up/down Daniher years and returned again in the middle part of the magnificent 2021 season culminating in the never forgotten finals campaign and the glorious premiership. The Goodwin years showed an alternating mix of good promise only to be dashed by games like the 2018 prelim. The following year (2019)as some sort of internal rationalising/cleansing I referred to the coach as Simon Badloss, it was fitting. In the early Covid years I was not convinced by his game style nor his media appearances(which as uninformed members and supporters was all we had to judge the team and club by) and of course each weeks game and results. While 2020 saw improvement the finish to the season was unsatisfactory and dispiriting. The 2021 wonderful and uplifting finals series was followed by players and staff expressing a strong and united desire to repeat the effort in front of members and supporters on the MCG in 2022. The manner of our dismissal from this finals series left me angry and disillusioned. Maybe the signs were there and I refused to remove the blinkers; the first 10 wins of the year I thought the coach/team had applied the handbrake once we got in front - why. The Steven May restaurant incident had me flip flopping between “boys will be boys” and “is there some disquiet within”. After the R22 Carlton game I posed the question, “did anyone see what I thought I saw” many of our top liners walking with peculiar gaits, ie not moving freely and looking injured. Wasn’t seen in play but walking off and back on at half time, 3/4 time etc. and away from the ball in game time. The very issue that stamped our authority in 2021, competitiveness, coming from behind to win and running out games disappeared in the second half this season. Along with many others I had faith(blind faith?)that we would come good when we needed to, not even the qualifying loss to Sydney and the manner of it interrupted my blind faith. So now this 60 year MCC/MFC member is back to being a doubter and my trust in the team, if not the club as well, is back where it has been most of my supporting life. Does that make me fickle or a new realist, I have the off-season to work it out. On any judgement the last half of this season does not sit well alongside the previous season and a half. I feel the club owes its members and supporters a briefing on the results of a fact finding report on what went wrong and what will be in place to ensure 2021 was not a one year wonder. That might go some way to restoring trust. Now let’s get something out of this season and barrack home our Casey team next week, hopefully re-discovering team spirit and resolve and unearthing some solid up and comers for next year in the process. I do of course look forward to the analysis and discussion tonight.

I hope he tells the club as soon as possible but I hope the club keep it under wraps as long as possible. I hate the way trade talk takes away from the finals. It’s so unnecessary and unbecoming

Power Forward is what we lacked all year Fritsch is a brilliant number 2

When is the ceremony? We could use a lift!

Human nature being what it is, I can't help thinking that if a few players had been demoted for poor form the rest of the team would have found something extra in the second halves. I know my performance at home improves if I think I might be replaced the next week.

Yes a missed opportunity that has left us all saddened and frustrated But we were in every game and during those last two games everyone at the game knew that we had to make every post a winner. Yet still we all knew that we were lacking that big gun forward who could take a mark and kick those critical goals. You could feel the desperation of the crowd knowing that we were frittering away our opportunities and letting easy goals dribble through at the other end because we never had anyone back in the deep 50. Angry yes, frustrated yes but despondent No. As mentioned above there is not much that needs fixing, some new faces a modified game plan and a couple of good forwards running around in our forward 50 will be the difference and we already have two running around at Casey. Looking forward to 2023.!!!!!!

I completely endorse what other positive members of this forum have said. Negative, whingeing posters are not helping the cause. I am so happy to see that we have many people who can see where our true destiny lies and don't slag our players and staff. Watching a replay of our crucial last home and away match against Brisbane we played our best footy for the year. Sadly injuries ruined our chances in the finals. Petracca showed amazing courage in our semi final but he just wasn't able to be the powerful champion he is and we missed that important factor. One remarkable feat was that for two whole seasons we were never out of the top four. Quite a performance in this highly competitive industry. I have no doubt we will bounce back next year in a big way. I am sticking to my belief that our BEST is superior to any other team. I shall now happily sit back and look at the premiership pennant and large team photo of an amazing team of players who last year produced one of the MOST DOMINANT performances in finals of all time. I also break into song singing the old ditty "They can't that away from me. No, no they can't that away from me" as I look proudly at the pennant on the wall. My wife thinks I'm crazy and she's most likely right. I am CRAZY about the team i have supported for over seventy years. Go my mighty Demons !

No question from me but just wanted to pass on immense gratitude to everyone involved in making the podcast, it’s been brilliant again this season.

I honestly think it was forward conversation rates. When the midfield was working well, we simply didn’t kick enough goals. and because they worked so hard, fatigue had to set in. It was evident even last Friday. We Smashed Brisbane early but kicked 3.6, if that had been 6.3, they wouldn’t have beaten us. A lot of people are blaming Selwyn Griffith, i am not. Our season came to an abrupt end because of Goal Kicking accuracy. We didn’t nail opportunities efficiently

As premiers, we were the hunted all season. Even against two bottom teams North & West Coast both physically smashed into the Demons. Add up multiple small things: - shorter pre season - being smashed every week as reigning premier - Burgess replaced by Griffith - Injuries TMac, then Gawn, Salem, Rivers, Trac, Oliver, BBB and players who looked like they were carrying Kossie, Jackson, Viney - other teams focussed on strategies to beat Demons, spoken about every week in press - Goodwin misjudged impact of 2nd tall forward, JVR should have been given a crack - Sparrow, Jackson, Rivers, Spargo, Bowey all stagnated this year - minor drop in desperation having won the flag in 2021

About 45 years ago I played in the VAFA. There was one thing the coach said over and over at every training session and every match. “It’s a running game.” He was right then and he is still right now. Collingwood showed last night what a running game looks like. And it’s far more attractive than our game. Plus, they beat us and many other teams with it. If we can’t run or decide not to run, we’re playing the wrong game.

This is where the beauty of 21 is the gift that keeps giving. I am nowhere near as gutted as I would have been should 21 had not have happened. I am curious to how long this will last

THANK YOU FOR THIS THREAD!!! It’s likely the only thread I’ll open for a while since it’s hard to read and cry at the same time. I fully appreciate all the above mentioned positives. In particular, the end of the Carlton match… sublime. My contribution to this awesome thread is of course regarding the Demon Army. I wanna post this pic of a young kid named Dylan. He’s only 20yo and is arguably the most passionate Dees fan I’ve ever known. And that’s saying something since the DA is chockers with psychotically devoted (and yes, maybe delusional) diehards. Dylan lives in Yarrawonga but makes it to every single match. Every week, interstate included. He is by no means well-to-do, he works full time for not exactly huge wages but he invests so much time, money and emotion into the Dees. He combines his two passions in life, those being the MFC and vexillology (appreciation of flags) which results in some truly spectacular sights. The flag in this pic was first used at iirc the Carlton match. Dylan bought the material and paid a professional flag-maker to create it. He chooses to forgo a seat in the first few rows with us and instead sits towards the back of the bay so as to maximise the effect of this spectacular flag… I want @The heart beats truein particular to see this since he recently made mention of how awesome it looked. And THBT, I told young Dylan and it brought tears to my eyes to see how much the praise means to him. I also told Ryan what you and others have said about his input and he was similarly humbled. Dylan’s is but one story about the incredible folks in the cheer squad. There’s no end to the amazing people therein. And, as per every single match, win or lose, not one nasty comment is made about Goody and/or our players. Ever.

Can confirm exit meetings are tomorrow and Tuesday. So we'll have some news by the end of the week on some players.